Stalk-cutter.



J. G. BASQUE.

STALK CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.16, 1009.

1,007,631 Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

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J. O. BASQUE.

STALK CUTTER.

APPLIOATION FILED 313.16, 1909.

2 SEEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR g g. M

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

' UNITED STAT -s P TENT OFFICE.

JOHN CALVIN BAsoUE, or KINGSTON, MISSOURI.

Specification of Letters Patent.

STIALK-CUT'IER.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

.Application filed February 16, 1909. Serial No. 478,243.

thichthe following a specification.

My invention relates to stalk cutters.

l The object of my invention is to present 7 revoluble stalk-cutter which is capable of yeing ,utih'zedfor a plurality of purposes lnd up'on 'g'round of any nature, whether evel or uneven.

It is a further object of my invention to ombine a stalk-cutter and a disk-cultivator, vhereby the stalks lying in the direction of ravel 'rnaynot only be cut,'centrally, by the.

,talk-cutter '(as its individual "and regular tunction) and by the cultivator-disks (as tuxiliary stalk-cuttersof stalks lying trans i'ersely) but, at the same time, the said culiivator-disks will also perform their own ze'gular function of cultivating the ground ireparatory to planting seed, etc.

It is afurther object of my invention to o arrange the parts upon the supportingehicle that. the weight of all will advanf geously be poised and counterpoised,

,vhereby the pressure, strain and pull which vould ordinarily become imposed upon the .orse are practically avoided.

With these objects in View, the invention gesides, primarily, in a revoluble stalk-cutter lisposed toward the rear of the center of he supporting-vehicle, and disk-cultivators 'r disk-harrows supported on shafts to the front of such central part of the vehicle, uch disks being dish-shaped and the con- Iavity in which faces outward.

The invention resides, furthermore, in neans for positioning said disks'toward and way from the ground, quickly and coneniently, whereby the operator may secure he best results at all times no matter what nay be the character of the ground being ultivated.

The invention consists, also, in various iovel details of arrangement and construcion, all as fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanyin drawings, forming t part of this specification, and wherein like etters of reference indicate corresponding nuts, I have illustrated a preferred embodinent of my invention; and in these drawngs, Figure 1 is a view in plan of my invention showing, particularly, the relative arrangement of thecutters; Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View in perspective of a portion of the disksupporting and positioning structure.

In the drawings, I have illustrated the stalk-cutter and disk-barrows as applied to a well-known form of cultivator-vehicle,

wherein A represents. the usual arched axle provided with ground or supporting wheels a, a. Secured to the arch of said axle isa platform a above which is mounted a springsupported seat a The main frame of the vehicle is designated B, and comprises .a frame I) suitably secured,.at the sides, to the vertical members of the arched axle.

Suspended from said frame I), as by the brackets 6 12 is a threesided cutter-supporting'frame c, said frame being, preferably, pivoted at its front to the brackets b b and held in position and guided by the depending lugs 6 6 To the rear-portion of the side-members of said outter-supporting frame are secured the lower ends-of springs 0 0 the upper ends of said springs connecting with links 0 0 attached to crank-arms carried at the ends of a' l rock-shaft c operated by a cutter-positionin lever c conti uous to which is dis osedws's b 7 b a sector 0 whereby the position of said lever maybe determined and its locking effected. Suspended from said frame 0, as by brackets'c c, are short transverse pintles 0 c for supporting the cutter C comprising heads 0 6 and a plurality of transverselyarranged cutting-knives or blades, 0 ,0 0

By the arrangement shown and just described, as will be obvious, the lowering and raising of the cutter is conveniently and quickly accomplished: When the lever is thrown forward and locked, it is ready for work, and, when thrown backward, the cutter is elevated away from the ground. In this construction, I prefer not to utilize a shaft for the cutter, because I thereby avoid the usual trouble arising from weeds, vines, etc., wrapping around the shaft that is usually employed, resulting. in binding and filling up of the head. Moreover, the use of the springs 0 c relieves the shock on the operator. To relier e shock of cutting on the team, I may provide another set of springs, e 0, connecting with the brackets c and with rear brackets 0 0 The crumed atthe lowered ends of the brackets b) said frame may :be'raised or lowered,

as necessary, and retained in its adjusted .position by said set screw.

- The cutter C performs its usual-function of cutting corn stalks', cotton or other kinds of stalks; but it is manifest that its zone of operation is'limitedi'to the length of the blades, and, as certain extent, to the stalks, etc., lying 1n the direction o'f travel.

To enlarge upon the "zone of cutting-oper ation of the construction, I provide the cultivator or harrow disks D, D, D, (preferably three or more) ateach side of the outside line of cutting ofjthe cutterl Each of these disks is dished and facesoutward 'in' order that'the di 'r t mayhem-own outward and, thus, cause the ground to assume a more level character. The'number of disks (at least three) on each side enables the implement not only to cut the stalks into shorter lengths, but at the same time better prepares the ground for subsequent planting of seed, etc. Moreover, for these important results, I dispose these disks in a position considerably in advance of the posi tion of the main'cutter G, and this forthe purpose of cutting the stalks lying crosswise to the directionof travel of the vehicle (and before the cutter G operates to cut the stalks, etc., lying longitudinally of the direction of travel) and, also, for cutting stalks, limbs, etc., lying closest to the ground.

I will now describe the. supporting and positioning structure for the cultivatordisks D: Projecting forward from the frame of the vehicle is the usual tongue E, which I prefer to' make longer than usual.

Pivoted upon and toward the rear end ofthe tongue is a positioning-lever F, the same-being bifurcated ,at its lower end to straddle the tongue. Carried by this lever is a spring-member f designed to engage in notches g, g g, in a sector G secured to the top of the tongue and between the members F, f of the bifurcated lever. Each of the lower ends 'of these members F, f is recessed to receive a pivot-block f in which is supported an arm f carrying a segmentmember J, to the inner end of which is pivoted an angulated arm h which carries a sliding dog to engage in notches in said segment-member. The arm It also carries at its lower ends a segment-member J A horizontal, outwardly-extending shaft J 3 is fulorumed on the arm h, and is provided with a bifurcated end 7' which straddles the member J 2 and carries a sliding dog 7' to engagein'one or another of the notches in the segment-plate J On said shaft a plurality of dished'cutter-disks D, D, D, are rotatably mounted, there being at least three of these on each shaft at each side.

It will be understood that the shafts have no rotary movement, but the disks are revolubly disposed thereon. The arms'oroifsets h enable the disks to be disposed in a lower plane relative to the point of attachment'of the arms to the pivot-blocks, and the pivotal arrangement of the segment-members J and shafts J 3 permit the positioning of said shafts at an angle, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 1, relative to each other and-to the cutter 'G. The innermostdisk is outside theline of the cutter C, and theoutermost disk is outside the line of the vehicle wheeli 4 By meansmf the pivot-blocks, the arms and disks may be tilted up out of the way. To hold them in either operative or inoperative position, axspri'n'g 'cat ch h is pivoted on' the side of the member. f theJan'gular 7 portion of' this catch engaging under the pivot-block when the arm is tilted, andfjalso bearing down on' the top of the armwhen v the arm is in its horizontal position. By. means of the lever F, both sets of disks. may be positioned to or away from the ground: When the lever is in its rearmost position and locked in a notch in the sector, the disks occupy a position slightly above the surface of the ground. When the. lever 'is thrown forward, the sets of disksare 10w, ered to the ground and will remain'so until positioned away therefrom. t

Suitably connected to the tongue, or other suitable part, is a slide-runner I designed to hold the weight of the parts off the necks of the horses when moving. This runner is pivoted so that it can be tilted up out of the way when not in use.

By the construction and arrangement of parts shown, and the use of the slide-runner, already referred to, the weight of the tongue, frame and parts of the structure is poised and held off the necks of the animals. The cutter and disks cut stalks in the path of travel,the disks (being in the front) operating to cut all that the cutter behind would miss, and, at the same time, cuts the surface of the ground so that it can thereafter be more easily plowed and worked. The disks being equi-distant, and there being three on each side, they will cover twothirds of the ground between the ordinary corn-rows, thus leaving the ground in fine condition for sowing oats, timothy or other the disk-arms, permit the disks to be raised and held up out of the way without necessitating detachment thereof. My structure, therefore, possesses many and important ad vantages.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, a wheeled supportingframe, a plurality of series of rotating cutter-members sustained thereby, some of said plurality of series being arranged in advance of other of said cutting-members and all normally at substantially right angles to the line of draft of said frame, angulated supports movably connecting with said supporting-frame and adapted, when shifted, to position the cutter-members carried by said supports at an angle and in a different plane to their normal position, and means also carried by said frame for simultaneously positioning a plurality of said cutting-members.

2. In combination, a wheeled supportingframe, a plurality of series of rotating cutting-members independently sustained by said frame and including a single set of cutting-members disposed at the rear of said frame and two sets of cutter-disks arranged in front of said single set and in approximate transverse alinement with each other and normally at substantially right angles to the line of draft and shiftable to positions at an angle to said line of draft, angulated supporting-members by which said disks are movably supported and positioned independently of each other, and means common to bot-h sets for simultaneously p0- sitioning them toward and away from the ground.

3. In a stalk-cutter, the combination with a supporting-frame, sets of triple cutterdisks, tiltable and horizontally-swinging arms upon which the disks are rotatably disposed, spring latches for holding said arms in position when tilted, meansfor holding said arms in any of their horizontally-shiftable posit-ions, a lever to which said arms are connected and by which they are manipulated, and means for locking said lever in position.

4. In a stalk-cutter, the combination with a supporting-frame, sets of triple cutterdisks, tiltable and horizontally-swinging arms upon which the disks are rotatably disposed, spring latches for holding said arms in position when tilted, means for holding said arms in any of their horizontally-shiftable positions, a lever to which said arms are connected and by which they are manipulated, means for locking said lever in position, and a depending slide-runner for sustaining the weight of the parts of the structure.

5. In a stalk-cutter, the combination with a supporting-frame, sets of triple cutterdisks, tiltable arms upon which the disks are rotatably disposed, spring latches for holding said arms in position, a lever to which said arms are connected and by which they are manipulated, means for locking said lever in position, and a depending slide-runner for sustaining the weight of the parts of the structure; said runner being tiltable to remove it out of operating position.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN CALVIN BASQUE.

Witnesses:

RoBT. MoFEE, W. H. BASQUE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

